Liffi landed outside an outbuilding, a barn, where she sensed the Brethren were holding Jake. She transformed into her human—or more accurately—elfin state and picked up the alicorn. After tiptoeing to the door, she peered into the gloom of the interior. The weather was dull and damp, with chilling fog swirling in the air. How she longed for the dawn light and warmth of Aelfheim.
She made out two figures, one standing and one seated, before him. t*****e in progress!
She slipped into the barn with the silence, lightness, and grace of the elf she’d become. When her anguished gaze understood the sight before her, Jake’s cheek so badly slashed that his teeth and jawbone were visible and his eye gouged out, she emitted a falcon’s shriek so loud that it staggered the torturer on his feet. Even
